Bombay High Court allows Johnson & Johnson to manufacture baby powder at 'its own risk'

Bombay High Court allows Johnson & Johnson to manufacture baby powder at 'its own risk'

The bench will hear the matter on 30 November

The Bombay High Court has permitted Johnson & Johnson Private Limited to manufacture baby powder at 'its own risk.' However, it withheld permission for its sale and distribution, as its licence was revoked by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A division bench of Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice SG Dige was hearing a petition filed by Johnson & Johnson challenging the orders of the state government, cancelling the manufacturing licence of its baby powder in Mumbai.

The company had filed a petition challenging the two orders. First, for cancelling the license, and second, to immediately stop manufacturing and sale of the product

In its plea, the company stated, "On 15 September, the Joint Commissioner and Licensing Authority, FDA, Maharashtra issued an order cancelling the company's licence effective from 15 December 2022. In December 2018, the FDA during a random inspection took samples of the baby powder and found it to be 'not of standard quality.'"

The state had revoked Johnson's licence citing public interest and directed the company to recall the stock of the powder from the market.

Johnson maintained that the FDA did not issue a show-cause notice to the company and urged that the product samples be sent to the Central Drug Testing Laboratory.

The court has now directed the samples to be sent to more than one lab, as it did not want any margin of error. The state suggested the names of the three laboratories. The court guided FDA to collect the samples of the baby powder from the Mulund facility and send them to the labs within three days.

While the bench posted the matter for hearing on 30 November, it permitted the company to manufacture the product at 'its own risk.'